NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



^ 



For many years after I began to bathe daily, I 

 received unminglcd benefit therefrom, and a great 

 amount of it. By and by, my system became so 

 reduced by excessive mental application, that reaction 

 did not always take place, and it injured me. I 

 therefore took it less frequently, and only when I 

 ■was sure I possessed sufficient A-itality to secure that 

 reaction. Under this regimen my skin became weaker 

 and weaker, (;olds and slight fevers began to make 

 their apjiciiruncc, and I became apprehensive for the 

 future, till Ur. North, of Saratoga, recommended not 

 only the warm bath, but a veri/ warm one ; com- 

 mencing at about ninety-eight degrees Fahrenheit, 

 and rising, at successive baths, to one hundred and 

 ten ; remaining in from fifteen to thirty miniitcs, as I 

 could bear it. " Never mind," said he, " if it pros- 

 trates you for the time being. You require that your 

 blood should be brought to the surface, and this will 

 do it, and thus fortify you against the winter's cold." 

 He added this general rule, which struck me both as 

 so reasonable and important, that I write this article 

 mainly to jiromulgate it, namely — " When the sys- 

 tem is over-excited, feverish, and requires to be 

 reduced, take the cold bath ; but when it is so debil- 

 itated as to require tonics, employ the rearm bath." 

 These warm baths did for mc the very thing I re- 

 quired — namely, relieved my internal organs and 

 head by directing the blood to the skin. A few hot 

 baths so restored the action of the skin that it was 

 benefited by the c<jld bath, which is alwaj's best when 

 there is sufficient vitality in the system to produce the 

 requu-ed reaction. He said he prescribed the warm 

 bath instead of bitters, tonics, and stimulants — or 

 where these were considered requisite in general 

 practice ; — but the cokl bath where depletion and 

 salivation were formerly prescribed ; that is, where 

 the pulse was hard, the skin feverish, and the system 

 required to be reduced. And this rule is undoubtedly 

 correct. It will generally be found to agree with the 

 patient's ^t'e/i«;7A- — and this is, after all, the great test. 



Another important rule is this : Whenever the 

 patient instinctively shrinks from cold water, because 

 it really jjuins him, use the tepid bath ; but when cold 

 water produces an agreeable sensation, and leaves a 

 pleasant glow, the cold bath is preferable. Mark, I 

 do not say when the bather thinks cold water will 

 produce a j ainful shock ; for many imagine it will 

 affect them unfavorably, whereas, properly applied, it 

 would produce delightfid sensations. When the skin 

 Ls hot and the system restless, and whenever there is 

 positive pain, local or general, apply cold water ; but 

 when you feci weak or exhausted, use the warm 

 bath. 



Those whose nerves ai"e over-excited or diseased, 

 should generally use the tepid bath, because their 

 nerves require quiet ; whereas the shock caused by 

 cold water only re-irritates them, and thus enhances 

 disease ; whereas tepid water sootlies the nerves, and 

 carries ott' diseased matter, besides opening the pores. 



Our general rule, then, is this ; that temperature of 

 bath is best which /('t'/,s best to you. But mark these 

 three important directions: 1. Always, after tlie 

 warm bath, wash off in cold water ; for this closes 

 the ])orcs, and heljis prevent taking cold after thoni, 

 besides bracing the system. 2. Always, when you 

 wash or bathe in cold water, employ sufficient action, 

 by swimming, or nibbing, or something else, to pro- 

 duce a subse(iuent ghw ; for this is indispensable, and 

 its absence renders the bath injurious. 3. Keep up 

 the circidation by sulisequent exercise. 



Many })orsons go slirinkingly and slowly into their 

 baths, 'i'his is all wrong. Spring from your bed as 

 though a great snake was crawling over you, jerk off 

 your night clothes instantly, dash into the water as 

 if for your hfe, rub as though you would blister your 

 skin, wipe quickly, on with your clothes in double 

 quick time, and go at something with might and 



main, till the blood courses briskly tluoughout your 

 whole system, and you will feel almost like a new 

 being. 



The qrcantity of jvi^ter bathed in is by no means 

 unimportant. The body is charged with elcctricit)-, 

 and water is a rapid conductor of tliis element. 

 Hence none but robust persons should stay long in 

 large .bodies of water. One minute is too long for 

 mc to stay in a river, even in hot weather. Invalids 

 should go only into small bodies of water, and will 

 generally find the sponge, or hand bath, preferable, 

 because small bodies of water become soon saturated 

 with electricity, so that you can apply it the longer 

 without its reducing the vital force below the reacting 

 point. 



Are warm or cold rooms best? Whichever yte7.s 

 best. When vigorous enough to insure reaction, I 

 decidedly prefer cold rooms, and ice-cold water ; but 

 when not, warmer water and rooms. All those con- 

 ditions each patient must determine for himself, and 

 determine by that infallible guide, his own sansafions. 

 Yet let all employ some kind of bath, either daily, or, 

 at farthest, semi-weekly. 



illcdjai^cs* Pcpartmeut, ^rts, Sec. 



An Important Mechanical Invention fok CASTiNO 

 Iron Pipes. — The Baltimore Sun notices at length 

 an important improvement in casting iron pipe, at the 

 foundery of Thomas J. Lovegrove, in that city, which 

 is the invention of that gentleman. By the ordinary 

 mode of casting pii:ie, it is necessary to make a sand 

 mould for every separate piece of pipe, and a " core," 

 which is formed by wrapping hay around a rod, tliis 

 again being coated carefully with clay, to preserve 

 the tubular or hollow form of the pipe. The 

 improvement dispenses entirely with this tedious 

 arrangement, and centrifugal power is applied to pro- 

 duce the same results in a quicker antl better man- 

 ner. 



The invention consists of an iron mould, suspended 

 horizontally, and arranged for the introduction of the 

 melted metal, by means of a trough at one end. As 

 the metal is introduced, a slight depression at one 

 end is effected by moans of suitable tackle, and the 

 revolutions of the mould immediately commence. 

 By the time all the metal is introduced, the mould is 

 elevated to its true position, the gravitation having 

 carried the fused metal to the end of the mould, and 

 it suddenly revolves for about lialf a minute with 

 considerable velocity, distributing the metal ccjually 

 to the surface throughout the entire length of the 

 mould, from the centrifugal force of the revolution. 

 The vacancy in the centre is of course regulated by 

 the amount of metal, the pipe being made of any 

 degree of thickness required. 



In a few seconds, the revolution ceases, the moidd 

 is separated, the upi)cr half is hoisted off, and the 

 pipe removed. There is no adhesion ; the pipe, in the 

 instant of cooling, undergoing contraction sufficient 

 to obviate this, were there no artificial in-otcction 

 agahist it. The time occupieil, from the tapping of 

 the furnace to tlie lifting of the perfect pipe from tho 

 mould, is precisely two minutes. And it is obvious 

 that, with a range of two or three moulds in opera- 

 tion, jiipe could be turned out as rapidly as the metal 

 could be drawn from the funuice. The inveiUion 

 will not be confined to the mere casting of iron pipe. 

 It is evidently applicable in various departments, 

 throughout the whole range of the mechanic arts. It 

 is not limited in its effects, either, as we understand 

 it, to a mere surface, but, while retaining a circular 

 form, it will adajU itself to every variety of external 

 shape and ornament. It is inipos.sible to foresee the 



